The Faith of Leap: Embracing a Theology of Risk, Adventure & Courage
Overview
So much of our lives is caught up in the development and maintenance of security and control. But as Helen Keller observed, “Security is mostly a superstition. . . . Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” And when our only experience of Christianity is safe and controlled, we miss the simple fact that faith involves risk.
In The Faith of Leap, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch challenge you to leave the idol of security behind and courageously live the adventure that is inherent in our God and in our calling. Their corrective to the dull, adventureless, risk-free phenomenon that describes so much of contemporary Christianity explores the nature of adventure, risk, and courage, and the implications for church, discipleship, spirituality, and leadership.
In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Scripture citations link directly to English translations, and important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
- Provides a tool for pastors, organizational leaders, and church members as they pursue a faithful and missional life
- Shows how adventure, risk, and courage are at the heart of living God’s mission
- Delves into what effective church discipleship and personal spirituality looks like
- The Spirit’s Edge: Putting Adventure Back into the Venture
- Jesus Is My Disequilibrium: Where Friends Become Comrades
- A Walk on the Wilder Side: Overcoming Fear in Pursuit of Wild Hope
- The Hero’s Journey: Becoming Who We Were Made to Be
- Getting Over Risk Aversion: Extracting Truth from Dare
- Missional Catalysis: Thinking Differently about the Church and Her Mission
- The Risk of Neighborliness: An Invitation to Take the Plunge
Top Highlights
“Elton Trueblood, that ‘faith is not belief without proof, but is trust without reservation.’ Therefore faith is more an act of courage than it is an act of knowledge.” (Page 81)
“All disciples of Jesus (not just a select few) are called to an ongoing, risky, actional, extravagant way of life—a life resonant with that distinctly wild—and yes, Christlike—faithfulness of their Lord and Master. This is the faith that is willing to leap into service of his unfurling reign in this world, believing that by so doing we are partnering with him in a cosmic project for the regeneration of all things, far and away more amazing than anything we could have conceived of ourselves.” (Page 17)
“Liminality is the term we use to describe a threshold experience. It is composed of any or a combination of danger, marginality, disorientation, or ordeal and tends to create a space that is neither here nor there, a transitional stage between what was and what is to come. As a result, it is experienced as a place of discomfort and agitation that requires us to endure and push into what is to come.” (Page 19)
“It is the idea that all the players in a project ought to have a direct stake in the outcomes, because if strategic choices don’t fundamentally impact us personally, it is unlikely we will make decisions with the kind of seriousness they deserve. We need to act as if our lives depended on it.” (Page 99)
“We are the people born of the missio Dei. This means that the church is a result of the missionary activity of God and not the producer of it. The church is therefore defined by its mission and not the other way around.” (Page 21)
All the books of Hirsch and Frost are books that need to be written. Very thoughtful and chock-full of insight and practical advice, this brilliant book reminds us that we can—in fact, we must—substitute another narrative for the security-obsessed one that normally drives us if we wish to truly live!
—Reggie McNeal, missional leadership specialist, Leadership Network
Imagine the Apostle Paul arriving in the metropolis of Ephesus with the sole task of gospeling that city. Now imagine yourself at the edge of your community with the task of gospeling your community. You’ve got two pockets. Stick in one of your pockets your Bible and in the other The Faith of Leap. You’re ready. Now go.
—Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University
There is too much shallow talk these days about the church ‘at the margins,’ liminality or ‘living on the edge.’ Instead, we need people who will teach us how to become capable of such a thing! The Faith of Leap does just that. Hirsch and Frost use their manifold gifts to show us why and how adventure, risk, and courage is at the very heart of living life together in God’s mission.
—David Fitch, author, B.R. Lindner Professor Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary
As Alan and Mike have helped forge and form missional strategy for the church of the twenty-first century, they have now put rubber to the road by exposing nebulously boring faith and pushing toward the trilogy of adventure, courage, and transformation. Read it if you have the guts.
—Hugh Halter, church planter, pastor, consultant, and missionary
I have read everything Hirsch and Frost ever wrote individually or together, and each time their writing kindles my intellectual and missional imagination. The Faith of Leap was a wholly different experience. I began reading it with the thought that the church could certainly use a theology of adventure, but within just a few pages, my own heart was ravenous—urged by the call of the wild to which Jesus invites every woman and every man.
—Linda Bergquist, church-starting strategist, California Southern Baptist Convention
Christianity has waited its entire history for someone to risk a theology of risk. Who would have thought that its appearance would come in the form of a fireworks festival . . . A remarkable tour de force.
—Leonard Sweet, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Drew University
I am frequently asked what it will take to see church multiplication movements occur in the West. This book hits on one of the most crucial elements we need to release church multiplication movements—if not the most significant missing ingredient. This is, in my opinion, Hirsch and Frost’s best work to date and is must reading for anyone who wants to release missional movements.
—Neil Cole, founder and executive director, Church Multiplication Associates
Michael Frost is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study center at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is the author of more than a dozen books including Exiles and The Road to Missional.
Alan Hirsch is founding director of Forge Mission Training Network and cofounder of Shapevine.com, an international forum for engaging with world-transforming ideas. Currently he leads an innovative learning program called Future Travelers which helps mega churches become missional movements. He is the author of numerous books, including The Forgotten Ways, and coauthor of Untamed and Right Here, Right Now.